Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Well, Paul, I just want to say this letter that you've written is incredibly deep.
Why, thank you. I'm trying to develop some deep theological truths here.
Well, I'm developing a headache trying to follow your deep theological truths. May it never be. I'm only trying to help. Well, but it seems like you're making life difficult for us.
God forbid. I would never purposely make life difficult. I'm trying to help you understand these deep truths. Well, Paul, what should we say? That these deep truths are beyond our ability to grasp and to understand?
By no means. You are certainly capable of understanding these truths.
What did I just do?
This is a rhetorical device, and I acted out a letter being read aloud to the congregation using two characters.
You know what that's called?
Speech and character rhetoric. And my player is my interlocutor. Right. Remember this term. I should have given you the bonus if you could pronounce it the imagined fictive conversational partner created by the author of a letter or a story to make his or her points. Here's a very, very brief review, because without understanding it, you don't understand romans, speech and character. Writer or speaker presents a dialogue or thoughts as if they're coming from another person, which you saw me just do. Often an imagined or hypothetical figure. But it allows the speaker. Speaker to engage in conversation. They can then anticipate counterarguments. They can systematically refute these. Right. The interlocutor is presented in a way that the audience can relate to or recognize. The audience can relate to this person. It's effective, as I said, because the speaker gets to, without directly condemning his audience for anything, he gets to bring up the objections that they would bring up and therefore counteract them. The audience relates to the interlocutor. The speaker writer corrects his wrong opinions, thereby correcting the audience, because the interlocutor represents the speaker's, the letters recipient. We with me?
You with me? I think I'm with me. We with. Yeah, are you with me?
Here we go again with these doggone pronouns. Paul has been conversing with the interlocutor to this point to set the stage for some very, very big truths that he made in chapter two, which we talked about last week. Paul's two big things. No idolatry, no conversion. These are things. Now, we talked a lot last week about why it's unlikely that he's talking to Jews. The traditional viewpoint suggests other words. Otherwise, that he's calling out now the Jews in Romans two and lumping them all together in the Gentiles with the Gentiles, it's nothing but Paul universally putting all of humanity into a big burn in hell pile. And the Jews are literally, despicably deplorable, just like all of the idolaters. But what I hoped to show last week, and I think I did, is that the Jews are not in Paul's mind. He's talking to gentiles because Gentiles taethne the nations are his concern. And what we're about to see is that that's going to continue right along into chapter three, but that Paul will now speak just a bit about the jewish people. Very small scale. His real points and his real feelings about the Jews will be revealed in about six chapters when you arrive at chapter nine. But this is all still in an effort to help his audience see the story that he wants them to understand. Okay, now this is a gentle reminder. You must read the chapter before you arrive and the one before it and the one after it. And honestly, you ought to be reading the book anyway, every chapter of it, every week, because I have to.
But before we head into chapter three, I just want to remind you of how chapter two ended. Okay. I want you to see if you can just from what I read, I'll read it very fast. I want you to see if you can determine the theme of this section of how it ended.
Circumcision indeed is a value if you obey the law. But if you're a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision regarded as circumcision, then the physically uncircumcised person who keeps the law will judge you. Though having a written code and circumcision are a transgressor of the law, for a person is not a jew who's won outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a jew who is won inwardly. And circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans, but from goddess. What do you think he's talking about?
Thank you.
Circumcision. He said it a few times, but we know that that's code for something else. I told you last week, this cannot be, should not be, must not be read as Paul redefining Judaism. As Paul, you know, he's setting the proselyte or the Judaizing gentile on the right. Course, he's saying you got circumcision, aka conversion. You got it all wrong.
You don't understand it. Okay?
But what is often assumed from this in a traditional interpretation is that what Paul is actually stating there is that now he himself is anti circumcision.
That what he's actually saying is circumcision, aka Judaism, is bad.
And this is that very traditional interpretation that meshes with Paul is done with Judaism in Romans. Right? That's where this flows. And honestly, when you read that at a very surface level, without really understanding a lot of the things that we've put into this so far, it does kind of sound like that, doesn't it?
Like he's minimized it, like he's devalued it. Darren, I want to put chapter three up, verse one, which is why now, when we read chapter three, you're going to understand the question that's about to be asked. Okay, then what advantage has the jew?
What is the value of circumcision? First thing we need to know, what are we still talking about even though we went to a new chapter?
Thank you.
Let's cut to the chase.
Just kidding.
First thing we need to note, we're still talking about circumcision, even though it is a new chapter. Secondly, we need to know who's asking that question.
Who do you think is asking that question?
Very good. I'm glad you said that, because it's wrong. We need to know. You've met him before.
You just actually met him. Paul just finished a conversation with him at the end of chapter two, but he didn't really finish the conversation, now, did he? Because logically, look at this.
Paul is. Now he is asking Paul a very logical question based on what Paul just said. Here's how it goes. At the end of chapter two, having been told the interlocutor, having been told it's not about being jewish or getting circumcised on the inside. On the inside, circumcised on the outside, this interlocutor, the proselyte, the one on the way, the Judaizing Gentile, the convert, whatever, he responds quite logically and says, okay, paul, well, then what's the point? What's the advantage?
What do Jews. What's the advantage? Here, listen to this paraphrase. Okay. All right.
I'm Johnny, the interlocutor. No, I'm Caesar the interlocutor. It's got to have a roman name. Seneca the interlocutor.
Okay, Paul, let me get this straight.
Paul, if you came up and stood here, that would really make a lot. I'm just kidding.
Let me get this straight, Paul. You're jewish and you're proud of it. You're circumcised, you're practicing Judaism proudly.
You just told me, though, that Judaism isn't valuable. I'm very confused. You're telling me the circumcision I have and am quite proud of you, of my conversion or road to it, that it's not useful to me at all as a gentile, that it's not beneficial.
And so then he asks, well, then, what is the advantage, Paul? What is the deal? What is the value? In other words, Paul, you're making it seem as if this whole jewish thing is irrelevant. It has no value. Am I misunderstanding you? Is there, Paul, a qualitative difference between Jews and gentiles vis a vis God?
What advantage? The interlocutor. Remember this? He represents the audience. He's asking Paul a question that his very own audience would be potentially thinking. I'm kind of confused. This roman community says, all right. Then Paul responds.
The words he put into the interlocutor's mouth, which is what advantage? What's the advantage of being a jew? Those words have perfectly positioned Paul for his response. What is his response in chapter two? Much in every way.
I mean, chapter three, verse two, much in every way. For in the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of Goddesse. Okay, I really need you to see that. I need you to not gloss over that. I told you, Paul was not overturning, undoing, minimizing Judaism. What did he just do? He confirmed Judaism. It is much in every way. There are advantages. This is the connecting flow of the letter. Connecting flow. And when you see that as a gentile asking him that question in verse one and his response, it makes logical sense, right?
It does.
Paul's response, there are advantages, my friend, who are looking for what the advantages are. There are advantages.
We're entrusted with the oracles of God, and at the very same time, over the rest of the chapter, he will bring this around to show that even Jews do not rely on being jewish for salvation, to be saved. We're going to encounter a very famous term later, the works of the law.
Okay? That's the point he's going to make. Jews don't think we're getting saved by this thing. And so this remains a conversation between his somewhat confused and curious interlocutor in chapter three, who then moves on to ask another series of questions. I'm going to skim them. You can read this later. The interlocutor asks for more clarification from Paul. He says in verse three, so what if some did not trust? Will their faith, their lack of faith, nullify God's faithfulness? The translation here. You ready? Fine. Jews have advantages, Paul.
But if they didn't listen to you, if they're not listening to your gospel, if they didn't accept the message, the message of the messiah, if they're God's people, doesn't that undo God own righteousness toward them?
Paul offers now a very famous and important response. Here's your Greek for today.
Me genoito Magenoito.
By no means, far from it. Some translations read, God forbid, although that's not really what it means. May it never be. Let God be true, even if every man is a liardhead. That response, Maginoito, which is repeated ten times through the book of Romans, is Paul's response when he is faced with a question that is ridiculous, that he wants to completely reject, that a proposition is made. And Paul will respond, mega nuto. How could you ever think that? Okay, to his guy now he's saying, God will still be faithful to the Jews. He will take up the Jews lack of faith in Romans 911. Then the interlocutor asks some other interesting and logical questions. Listen, Paul, but if our injustice, if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust? And then he says, but if through my falsehood, God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being judged? Who's talking?
The interlocutor, a gentile. And he's asking very, very logical questions. Paul, if they get off, why don't I?
This isn't fair.
That doesn't seem fair. If their unbelief confirms God's righteousness, why doesn't my injustice get a pass? It's a legit question.
Paul responds to those things like, why am I still being judged as a sinner? Paul responds, what do you think? Paul responds, I just taught it to you.
Me genoito.
You have to be judged. God is a judge. He is a faithful judge. There must be an accounting for unrighteousness. Jews are in covenant. You're not.
Okay, I got to spend a lot of time on that. Not today.
But that's in essence what he's saying. Jews are a part of a covenant. Then in Romans three nine, the interlocutor speaks again, a very, very, very important question, and you're just going to have to tune in because this is a little bit like meandering and academic Romans three nine in your translations.
This is a fantastic one to use as an advantage, as an example, what then? Are we better than they?
This is a gentile asking this question, what then? Are we better than they? There are a number of other translations, most of which say something like this, what then? Are we better off? What then? Are we better than they? What shall we conclude? Do we have any advantage? That's the Niv. Some translations into that actually. Insert the word Jews.
Okay. Inserting the word into the greek Jews. It's not in there. It's not in there. But how does that then read? What then? Are we Jews any better off?
Stay with me. Plant that.
Not in the Greek. That's a translator's edition. And what does it do? It makes it look like a jew is talking.
How could you possibly not be expected to think that this is a jew talking when it says that?
Right? So some people who will hear this series, they'll be like, well, what are you dumb? It says right there that it's a jew talking. No, it doesn't.
It says, what then? Are we better off? But you want to know something? There's a fascinating thing about this.
There's another way to translate romans three nine.
We're not going to get into all of the whys unless you want to spend the next 15 to 20 minutes talking about the passive and middle voice of Greek, which I don't, because I don't even understand it. But I can tell you this. There's another way to translate romans three nine. You ready?
The exact opposite, which says, what then are we disadvantaged?
What then are we worse off? You will find it in a couple of translations, but what you will see in your Bibles is a little footnote where it says, what then are we advantaged? Little footnote. And you know what it says in the footnote?
Disadvantaged.
Now are we at a disadvantage, Paul? Are we worse off?
The point, I hope, is clear that when you see what I've suggested all along so far, that Paul's having this conversation with the Gentile and asking all these questions, and Paul is responding and teaching that translation which is legitimate, it is in the middle voice, makes sense why the interlocutor started the chapter asking, what advantage has the jew? Paul gives an answer much in every way. And so what we see here in verse nine is the Gentile interlocutor. Now, under the impression that Jews indeed do have an advantage because Paul said it, he's now asking, understandably, whether he and his Gentile family and friends are at a disadvantageous compared to Jews.
Do you see this logical flow of communication that Paul is doing here?
I've told you many times, Paul's smart.
Are we at a disadvantage in comparison to the Jews? And Paul responds with the point he's been building toward, the point that is intended to bring hope to these Romans. Ready for it? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin.
That's the answer to the Gentiles question.
No, you're not, because we're all under sin. Okay, now that's a huge acknowledgement, the traditional interpretation here. This is Paul's condemnation once again of Jews and once again trying to universalize sin. Put them into that Romans 118 through 32 section, where it was all about how terrible these idolatrous children, Gentiles were. We've already covered that. That's not true. He's talking about gentiles there. I've shown not Jews. So far, he has not said really much of anything about Jews. And all of a sudden now he is.
What's he saying?
He's making a point that he's made.
We. We Jews, Paul, we.
No, we're no better off. We're not advantaged in one important sense. That is. We are all vulnerable to sin.
All of us, Jews, Gentiles, all vulnerable. This is not a Secret. Then he goes into the Psalms and a little bit from Isaiah, and he's pointing out the scriptures speaking about sin. And he says, and what the law says, it says to those under the law, which the Greek literally says, in the law. You know who the in the law people are?
The Jews. Okay? He's saying the law speaks to Jews because of the law. Jews know they're imperfect. The law has revealed to them. Yet there is reconciliation, there is repentance provided therein. Because Jews are in a Familial, a covenant relationship with God. They disobey God. It's been proven through history up to Paul's time, but he does not break his faithfulness to them. Read today's haftarah, reading from Isaiah 54, where God says, you may have thought I divorced you, but I didn't. He does not break his faithfulness to Israel.
That's what Paul was saying earlier in chapter three. But he's moving toward the big point. We'll bring Yeshua in for the Jews soon enough. You know what? Paul doesn't go down that road very far in Romans. Do you know why? Because he's not really talking about or to Jews. He's talking about gentile justification.
He's moving toward this big point. The law was never meant to redeem people, and certainly, certainly, certainly cannot do that for people who have rejected God, which is who, of course, it only informs them of their sinful behavior. All humans sin. That is, without a doubt, and Paul makes that very clear. However, not all humans sin the same.
That's an important thing.
Gentiles primary sin we talked about. It starts with I, ends with y.
Idolatry.
Idolatry. There is no amount of law keeping that can keep a gentile. To save, save a gentile from that. And to think that it can is a grave error that Paul sets out to correct. If it were not for the law, gentiles would not know about God and his judgment. It is the law that reveals it, even though it cannot provide the solution. Knowing the law brings responsibility for wrongdoing, but it cannot remove the stain. And so gentiles becoming jewish, converting to Judaism, taking on the works of the law. Give me just a minute. I'll hit that term that is contrary to the gospel in which Paul is proclaiming. That was a lot, I know, but Paul explains. Here it is, straight up, I may hurt somebody's feelings today. It's okay. I love you. I hope you'll love me.
Jews have advantages, but converting to become one can't get you in, because even ethnic jews by birth, we don't believe that the law ultimately is why or how God will save jews. God did Israel a favor. Israel is an adopted son. We read in Exodus, we did nothing for that. He made a way. He made the promises.
But, my friend, that won't help you. Paul says, william Campbell's commentary, the switching of ethnic categories will not bring acceptance with God.
God makes righteous when he provides a way for people who have no positive relation to be able to have one. That's a miraculous act of God.
Paul makes in chapter one. Chapter one, he says, the righteous shall live by faith. Right?
Listen, that is incredibly important. And Martin Luther, like, he was right to place importance on that, but not in the direction that he ended up taking it, because that is a bedrock of Judaism. Righteousness by faith is the ultimate jewish idea.
God is the faithful one, not us. We're not counting on it. Why? Paul says in verse 20, in every famous. Every famous.
This is like the top of the list, I think.
Why aren't we counting on it? Because of what Paul says in verse 20. Because by the works of the law, none of mankind will be justified in his sight through the law comes knowledge of recognition of sin. Okay, that's 320 works of the law. Guess what? The jew would respond to that.
Duh.
I already know that everyone sins.
Jews had a relationship that took that into account with God. They attempt to honor God. There is no thought that the law, that jews will be saved. It's simply that God is faithful to his word, true to his covenant, advantage to his covenant relationship, even when we aren't. There is an advantage for jews in this relationship. And this is tough stuff, but this is the point Paul wanted to make. Gentiles, you don't have that.
The Torah, God's covenant, fidelity to you, is not part of the plan. So far.
So far, okay.
And no ethnic transformation can make that. So that's Paul's thinking. And to that point, we encounter this very specific idea he presents that we need to discuss, that Paul brings up here in romans, and that Christianity, not being mean, not damning or anything, but Christianity has taken this so far from its intended origin. And that is the phrase erga nomu, the works of the law, which we encounter here in 320.
Because by the works of the law, I read it already, none of mankind will be justified in his sight. Remember who he's speaking to, okay? Remember who he's talking to. The gentile proselyte on the way, maybe has converted, whatever. But I told you this. I'll say it again. Again. Paul never speaks against the Torah, ever, as it relates to jews. He never, ever, even to this point, has spoken against the law for gentiles. There is no place you will find where Paul says, oh, my goodness, friends, you gotta run from the law.
You gotta run from it.
We do need to understand what he says about the law, but we know that Paul held the Torah in high esteem for jews, obviously, instruction for Christ, following gentiles to live a moral life. It is the compass for life and blessing. But I want to suggest, tell you what, Paul was opposed to gentiles taking on works of the law, erga nomu, with the understanding that works of the law does not mean the Torah. And I can see by your faces, you're like, oh, my gosh, Mandy, it's a lot. But listen, the big takeaway, Paul is not talking about the Torah in romans two. In this way. These works of the law can be translated this way. Customary rights, rites of custom, as Mark Nanos describes them, they have a very particular meaning for Paul, and they stand in violation, these works of the law, they stand in violation of one of his big rules. Number one rule, Washington. No idolatry. Number two, no conversion. Works of the law stand in opposition to that, because while many, most, maybe almost all traditional interpreters see the works of the law as Paul's opposition to Judaism, as Paul standing against Torah, what they truly are are specific aspects, actions, rites of proselyte conversion. They are exemplified most powerfully by circumcision, which is a work of the law.
Give me just 1 second to explain it.
Okay. These ethnae. Okay, Paul's opposition, they are not into Torah, but against these erga nomu, which for Paul, it negates not only the Torah, because the Torah doesn't even specifically provide that, but that is standing in opposition to the very miracle which God is doing at this age. God welcomes the gentiles en masse into the family through Yeshua. These ethni, they had already chosen Yeshua. Now they wanted to convert to Judaism. Why?
Why? Well, there's a lot of possible reasons. For one thing, Paul has just told them that Judaism, circumcision, has its advantages. Okay, all right. Well, possibly there's still a feeling around in messianic synagogues, some places, thank God, not here, but in mixed communities of Jews and Gentiles, that, well, the Jews are God's chosen people. And I'm. You know, I'm not quite on the level. So maybe they had that feeling, and they were saying, well, we need to. We need to level up. We got to get into the jew crowd.
Perhaps they were receiving pressure from other messiah following Jews who were saying, no way, man. Paul's full of it. You can't get in here unless you convert to Judaism. We know that was an issue that Paul faced. We read it in Galatians. Right. We know that regardless, Paul was not a fan. And the bigger point that we must understand when. Mark Nanos, this is certainly a mouthful, but I'm going to read this to you, proposing that Paul use the phrase ergonomu, works of the law, to express his opposition to circumcision and the related initiation rites by which a non jew could become a proselyte. His goal was not to persuade Christ following non Jews to disregard the Torah. He used works of the law, erga nomu, to signify the rights involved in the initiation into Judaism. I told you it's a mouthful. But that is, Paul understood the mystery and the miracle to be occurring outside of Judaism, and yet still with the help of Jews, still to the jew first, and also the Greek to the ethne, righteousness available to them. The ethne is not found by becoming jewish.
Do you want me to spend another 20 minutes making that point another way? That's the point. Okay, now you are possibly thinking, didn't we just have this conversation last week?
Isn't this the exact same message talking about, you know, the convert not converting? And the answer is yes, because it's a very big message for Paul that he's trying to communicate into a community that has some issues.
His point has been made in the last three chapters, but remember, it's being read out loud, acted out in front of his audience. And so he's going to make this point in a variety of ways. He's still not actually done making it, but with this rhetoric, with this speech and character, with his interlocutor, it's a tough point to conclude today's message and this little section of the series, but this is it, and I need you to just hear it, and we're going to develop it and talk about it. But here it is.
Gentiles are not Jews, and they shouldn't be through conversion for sure.
That's what Paul is saying now. That doesn't represent every opinion from Paul's time. There were certainly Jews who were big proponents of conversion, and as a matter of fact, see Galatians five for the fact that Paul was once a huge proponent of circumcision. But something changed. Okay, and here's the words.
But now.
Okay, but now.
But now he says in verse 21, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. But it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there's no distinction for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. These words move us in the direction of this first little concluding section of Paul's letter. But now. But now, he says, it was this. It was this, it was this. But now, Gentiles, it can never be through the righteousness in the Torah. Jews know that it can't be through works of the law, the customary rites of conversion. That's not going to make you right. So he continues to speak with the Gentiles, the ones he's been speaking to the entire letter, and he says, the God of Israel, from whom you were completely estranged because you were horrendous idolaters, that the law brought all that ungodliness to light, it started the process of registering sin for you in the final judgment he goes even so far, a couple chapters ahead, to say that the law increased transgression, which I'll explain later, but his point here is all that.
But now the God of Israel has become available to you.
The God of Israel has become available to you. It is not through the law, works of the law. Not that those are bad, okay? Being jewish, upholding the Torah. As a matter of fact, the only good gentile in Paul's eyes is a judaizing gentile.
That means a Gentile who has attached himself or herself to the God of Israel is a part of some community, has abandoned idolatry and pagan gods. They're participating in the ecclesia, the community of God of Israel, not as Jews, as Gentiles, but now, through the righteousness of God, revealed in the faithfulness of Yeshua, through which you have been brought near. The language is so perfectly applicable to our situation here. Paul is speaking to the Gentile, and he says, brother, don't you see it?
You asked if God was righteous and just and all these things and merciful. The questions he had asked at the beginning of the chapter, he has made a way for you to be connected to him, part of the family, not disadvantaged in any way through Yeshua.
But there's still a distinction between Jews and Gentiles.
It's theologically non discriminatory, though. How's that for a mouthful?
Theologically non discriminatory?
God is righteous in the demonstration of the power to put things right through the Messiah. I'm almost finished. Where then, is boasting? Paul asks, where is boasting? It's been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Hear how clear that statement is to my premise. Apart from the works of the law, apart from being jewish. You can come in to this thing.
Bless you.
Le Briot. Gesundheit.
Here's the best part.
Okay.
Not through customary rights or conversion, not brought into jewishness, but brought into the family of Abraham as Gentiles.
Or is God the God of the Jews only? Paul asks to conclude the chapter. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by faith is one.
Hear, o Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. He's quoting Shema imagery for you to understand.
He cannot you cannot come in here as Jews, or else God is only the God of the Jews. And that's not the story he's telling. God is the God of all.
It's the shema in Paul's version.
And he says, do we then nullify the law through faith? Far from it, mega neuto.
On the contrary, we establish the law.
What in the world is that supposed to mean?
Well, what Paul upholds here has nothing to do with negativity toward the law, only to say that the proper meaning and function of the law is upheld by trust in Messiah. While non Jews are not required to practice the law through the spirit they receive through Messiah, they're going to participate in the family of God. They are then going to properly live this thing out, live out the law as Gentiles. Anything else that requires they become Jews only attempts to limit God to the God of the Jews. And Paul was not having it.
He was not having it. Right, Paul?
God is one.
But they are not to assume that because they shouldn't become circumcised, convert. That the law is dead or irrelevant. It's the opposite. The family of God. We follow the rules of the father. And now. But now, through the spirit of adoption related to Abraham, you're ready to live. By the instruction of God, we uphold the law. Yes, I've been going just a minute. But I'm going to read you the best paraphrase of romans three that you ever heard, which makes this point.
The righteousness of God has been made manifest outside the covenant between God and Israel. Though this righteousness was foretold in the scriptures, specifically, this righteousness has been made manifest through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and is available to anyone who demonstrates faithfulness themselves. For ultimately, there is no distinction between people. All have sinned and lacked the glory of God intended for humans. But now all the gentiles are righteous by the gift of God's grace. That is to say, they have redemption through Christ Jesus, whom God presented as a means of expiation through Jesus faithfulness, evident in his obedience unto death. In order to prove his righteousness in forbearance, God held back from punishing the nations for their accumulated sin for the sake of demonstrating that now, at the end of time, he is righteous, proving he is just, and that he justifies those who have been reborn through their baptism. In Yeshua, no one has the right to boast of having the advantage over the other. Were Jews ever made righteous before God merely by fulfilling the requirements of the Torah? Of course not. Rather, it's been through our trusting in God, for we know that for anyone to be righteous in God's sight, that one must be faithful above all else, must trust in God's promises. And this is true whether or not the person fulfills the requirements of Torah. Or does God belong exclusively to Jews? Isn't God the God of gentiles also? Of course, for God is one. Therefore, God justifies Israel because of God's faithfulness to the covenant, and God also justifies the gentiles by means of of Jesus faithfulness.
Pamela Eisenbaum Paul was not a Christian. This is a book you should read.
That was a long read, but that's it.
That's the summary of romans three.
This is Paul's explanation of entrance into the family of God for those who had no hope. That family begins with a very famous father, and Paul is getting ready to move now into chapter four to tell us all about faith and the works of our father, Abraham. As Abraham had faith, so did Yeshua, and so must we all. And Abraham then becomes the model used of God to demonstrate his own faithfulness.
Wow.
Just getting started.
Chapter four next week Shabbat Shalom please.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: Visit our website, shalommakin.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world, or contribute to the work of Shalom, Macon, thank you for watching and we look forward to connecting with you.
